sector in Cuba. The early years of the 19th century were marked by an astounding
increase in the flow of slaves from West Africa to meet the demands of Cuba’s
burgeoning sugar-based economy. As early as the 1820s, there were already an es-
timated 1,000 ingenios (sugar plantation-processing complexes) in Cuba. Despite
the 1817 agreement to the cessation of the trans-Atlantic slave trade between En-
gland and Spain, the economic dividends of Cuba’s plantation economy proved too
lucrative for Spain: the arrival of enslaved Africans increased.
Cuba in the 19th century remained a region marked by racial tensions. The con-
tinuing condition of slavery juxtaposed with a growing population of free blacks,
the legacy of Haitian independence, and continuing fears among the white Cuban
minority of a slave revolt like that of Haiti, produced a climate of racial severance
122 | Cuba
that remained unaddressed until well into the 20th century. This climate of fear
gave rise to an increase in the establishment of cabildos or cofradías: mutual-aid
assemblies based on regional Iberian guild-fraternities. These councils were legis-
lated in Spanish colonies, under the name of a patron Catholic saint and the auspices
of a diocesan Catholic priest, allowing persons of African heritage to congregate
for social events. Though the endorsement of these organizations by the Catholic
Church and the colonial elite was directed simultaneously at quelling the social ten-
sions inherent in Cuba’s slave-labor economy and facilitating the development of
Catholic orthodoxy in the regions, the cabildos proved to be as likely to facilitate
organized dissention as they were to foster the preservation of African-derived re-
ligious and musical practices. Additionally, these Afro-American congregations at-
tended to many of their community needs (such as amalgamating resources for legal
defenses, financing manumissions and funeral costs), much in the same way that
the palenques ( clandestine settlements of escaped slaves) acted as sites of cultural
preservation and social welfare. The persistence of Afro-Cuban sacred traditions
(such as Santería, Palo Monte, Arará, Abakuá ) and their rich musical heritages owe
much to the power of these early assemblies.
With larger numbers of African Cubans manumitted under Spanish law, the im-
migration of thousands of Chinese indentured laborers began in 1847 to counter the
attrition of plantation labor. Often working side by side with black slaves, Chinese
laborers became a crucial part of the Cuban economy, and like their Afro-Cuban
counterparts, they distinguished themselves as soldiers and officers in the struggles
for independence from Spain. After various attempts at a graduated emancipation
of Afro-Cubans, slavery was officially abolished in 1886. Ironically, sugar remains
Cuba’s principal crop and largest export commodity today.
Music and Cultures in Contact
Cuba, particularly the capital Havana, in the 19th century exhibited a vibrant ar-
tistic life infused with European concert musics that superceded the artistic output
of North American centers. At the same time, a Creole musical culture was taking
shape as the European and West African musical traditions on the island became
fused into uniquely Cuban musical sensibilities and expressive genres. The musical
adaptations, for example, visited upon the vestiges of Spanish contradanza in Cu-
ba’s 19th-century salons, led to uniquely Cuban popular musical genres such as the
danza cubana (the habanera ), which would go on to exert its influence in the co-
lonial courts of Mexico, European opera, Argentinean tango , and proto- jazz of the United States. The international appeal of Cuban music has been long-standing.
The 19th century also marked the emergence of the Creole drum, song, and
dance complex known as rumba (not to be confused with rhumba, one of the
Cuba | 123
earlier and more prominent examples
of authentic African and European
musical hybridity). Though the dance
and rhythmic vocabulary of rumba is
predominantly of Afro-Cuban ori-
gin (e.g., Yuka, Abakuá ), European
musical practices are nonetheless as
prevalent in the genre: Spanish lyr-
ics, Iberian harmonic progressions,
bel canto style, and tertiary harmo-
nization. Certainly, the prioritization
of the highest-pitched drum in the
ensemble indicates a uniquely Cuban
transformation because West African
drumming styles normatively des-
ignate the lowest drum as the prin-
cipal one. With the exception of the
street parades of the Epiphany and
other pre-Lenten Carnivals, which
were multifaceted events exhibiting
unpredictable mixtures of cultural
repertoires, no other popular forms Salvador Repilado, one of the sons of late
Cuban singer Compay Segundo, participates
of musical entertainment in the 19th in a rehearsal of Compay Segundo’s band
century (e.g., coro de clave, salon a few hours prior to the live performance
dancing, bolero , comic theater) ap- in 2010 at La Cigale concert hall in Paris.
proached the symmetry of sociomu- (Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images)
sical elements found in rumba.
The Republic: The First 60 Years
The first two decades of the republic were fraught with discord as Cuba struggled
to construct its own estimable nationhood amid the lurking interests of the United
States and racial enmity on the island. It was not until the spread of son that Cuban
popular music embodied a sonic ideal of racial conciliation, though the dance genre
met with consternation in its early years from many Cuban elite for its lascivious
nature and association with colored Cubans. It was in 1922 that Cuba became the
first Caribbean nation to broadcast its music on radio waves and Cuba’s interna-
tional status as a hub of musical and entertainment activity gradually escalated, as
did its musical influence. A gradual migration ensued, bringing Cuban musicians
to Havana in search of musical opportunities, and son, along with other musical
124 | Cuba
genres such as the danzón of the charanga orchestras, soon captured wider public attention. The musical migration, however, was not only internal: the growing flow
of American tourists to the island nation effected both an appetite for Cuban music
abroad and a fluency among Cuban musicians in jazz and swing band styles. By
the 1940s and 1950s, the artistic and commercial cross-pollination between Cuban
and American dance music had become so entrenched that it is nearly impossible
to estimate the multifaceted ways in which the mobility of musical repertoires (and
musicians) took effect, though cubop as well as the popularity of mambo and salsa
are conspicuous examples.
Musical Innovation Post-1959
On January 1, 1959, the rebels led by Fidel Castro successfully overthrew the
regime of Fulgencio Batista, for many on the island an icon of the continued
American interference in Cuban affairs. The numerous social and culture shifts
set in motion by the revolution brought about sweeping changes to U.S. foreign
policy concer
ning Cuba. As a result of the escalating acrimony and political
brinkmanship between the two nations (e.g., Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Cri-
sis, trade embargo, assassination attempts), the extraordinary musical dialogue
of the preceding 30-odd years was effectively ended. Nonetheless, the first 15
years of the revolution were marked by arresting artistic innovation, evocative
of the nationalistic fervor of the time, and numerous dance rhythms appeared
on the scene, captivating Cuban popular culture: dengue, mozambique, pilon ,
and songo .
The years immediately following the revolution were also typified by the in-
troduction of numerous musical hybrids, in no small part influenced by the in-
novative music of 1960s and 1970s United States and Britain (e.g., jazz, soul,
funk, rock). Though the fascination with foreign musical forms met with some
anxiety and at times outright repression on the part of the Cuban government,
many of these ensembles were at the vanguard of Cuba’s post-revolutionary
artistic innovations: the Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna (1967), which
included many early members of Irakere; the Quinteto Cubano de Música Mod-
erna (1959); the Grupo de Experimentación Sonora de ICAIC, including many
influential composers of nueva trova. The establishment of a Cuban national
recording company, EGREM (Empresa de Grabaciones y Ediciones Musicales,
1964), gave unprecedented recording opportunities to the many musical innova-
tors of the period.
The institution of various state performing arts ensembles moved Afro-Cuban
music and dance closer to the center of the national identity, most notably in the
Conjunto Folklórico Nacional de Cuba (1962) and Danza Contemporanea de Cuba
(1959). The period was also marked by the rise of independent folklore ensembles
such as Los Muñequitos de Matanzas (1956) and Guaguancó Marítimo Portuario
Cuba | 125
(1961, later Yoruba Andabo). The social history of Afro-Cuban and Cuban popu-
lar dance music soon came to be established in the national school curricula, and
their study was also included in the main state-run musical institutions—Escuela
Nacional de Arte (ENA), Instituto Superior de Artes (ISA), and various divisions
of the Escuela de Superación Profesional.
Recent Trends
With the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of its foreign aid to Cuba,
the Castro government was forced to open its borders to outside financial inter-
ests in order to minimize the effects of the economic crisis that necessarily fol-
lowed. Today, Cuba is arguably more connected to the outside world than it has
been since the revolution, which has had profound effects on the course of Cuban
popular music since 1990. Perhaps no music better captures the contradictions
of Cuban society in the post-Soviet era better than timba . Timba is arguably one of the most eclectic and virtuosic popular music genres in the world today, in no
small part due to Cuba’s many well-trained musicians, also well-versed in the
numerous musical styles shaping the genre: son, songo, funk, rap, dancehall, and
1980s jazz fusion.
Though the appeal of timba is both cross-generational and widespread (also in-
fluencing contemporary salsa ), several other Cuban musics enjoy prominence at
home and abroad. Spanish-language rap and reggaetón groups in Cuba are a con-
spicuous presence, indicative of the degree to which American hip-hop culture has
informed contemporary youth sensibilities. And since the late 1990s, Cuba has seen
a decided resurgence in traditional son ensembles, popularly known as the Buena
Vista Social Club phenomenon, after the musical collaboration between American
guitarist Ry Cooder and a near-forgotten generation of Cuban son artists. The in-
ternational success of this endeavor created a foreign familiarity with Cuba’s mu-
sical heritage and effected an upsurge of son ensembles among musicians seeking
economic opportunities in Cuba’s tourism industry.
Further Reading
Beardsley, Theodore. “Rumba-Rhumba: Problema internacional músico-lexico.”
Revista/Review Interamericana 10, no. 4 (1980–81): 527–33.
Fernandes, Sujatha. “Fear of a Black Nation: Local Rappers, Transnational Crossings,
and State Power in Contemporary Cuba.” Anthropological Quarterly 76, no. 4 (2003):
575–608.
Hagedorn, Katherine J. Divine Utterances: The Performance of Afro-Cuban Santería.
Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2001.
Manuel, Peter, ed. Essays on Cuban Music: North American and Cuban Perspectives.
Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1991.
Moore, Robin. Music and Revolution: Cultural Change in Socialist Cuba. Berkeley, CA:
University of California Press, 2006.
126 | Cuba
Moore, Robin. Nationalizing Blackness: Afrocubanismo and Artistic Revolution in Ha-
vana, 1920 – 1940. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1997.
Perna, Vincenzo. Timba: The Sound of the Cuban Crisis. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2004.
Robbins, James. “The Cuban Son as Form, Genre, and Symbol.” Latin American Music
Review 11, no. 2 (1990): 182–210.
Rodriguez, Olavo Alén. “Cuba.” In South America, Mexico, Central America and the
Caribbean. Vol. 2 of The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, edited by Dale Olsen and Daniel Sheehy. New York: Garland, 1998.
Rondón, César Miguel. El libro de la salsa: Crónica de la música del Caribe. Caracas:
Ediciones B, 2007.
Sublette, Ned. Cuba and Its Music: From the First Drums to the Mambo. Chicago: Chi-
cago Review Press, 2004.
Waxer, Lise. “Of Mambo Kings and Songs of Love: Dance Music in Havana and New
York from the 1930s to the 1950s.” Latin American Music Review 15, no. 2 (1994): 139–76.
Michael D. Marcuzzi
La Lupe
Cuban singer La Lupe (1939–1992), called “The Queen of Latin Soul,” was
known for her vibrant and fl amboyant performing style. Her music is recog-
nizable through her trademark “ahí namá” and “ay yi yi yi. ” She sang with the
trio Los Tropicuba until 1958 after which she went solo. She released her fi rst
album, Con el Diablo en el Cuerpo, in 1961 and in 1962 she left Cuba and began
singing at La Barraca, a nightclub in Manhattan. After releasing the single “Que
Te Pedi” with Tito Puente, Lupe recorded and toured the Latin music circuit
in the United States, Venezuela, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Panama, and
Spain. In 1969 La Lupe became the fi rst Latin female artist to sell out Carnegie
Hall and the fi rst Latin female artist to appear at Madison Square Garden. La
Lupe’s popularity started to wane by the late 1970s; however, the inclusion of
her song “Puro teatro” in the 1988 fi lm Women on the Verge of a Nervous Break-
down rekindled an interest in her music.
Further Reading
Aparicio, Frances R. and Valentín-Escobar, Wilson A. “Memorializing La Lupe
and Lavoe: Singing Vulgarity, Transnationalism, and Gender.” Centro: Journal
of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies 16 (2) (2004): 78–101.
Erin Stapleton-Corcoran
Cueca | 127
Cubop. See Latin Jazz.
Cueca
Cueca is the most popular traditional music genre a
nd dance of Chile. It is also
played in Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and Mexico, where it is called marinera or chilena. Cueca is a mixed partner dance with no body contact. The man follows
the woman persistently, imitating a cock courting a hen. The couple pursues and
retreats, passes, and circles one another in an imaginary ring, twirling handker-
chiefs as they dance.
Cueca is played in most regions of Chile with some variations. The cueca
nortina, from the north of Chile, has no lyrics. Instruments such as the panpipe
or brass bands and percussion are often used. In the folk-urban tradition of San-
tiago and Valparaíso, cuecas chilenera and porteña are performed, both usually
sung and accompanied by guitars, piano, accordion, and tambourine. In south-
ern Chile, cueca chilota is sung by men and accompanied by accordions, guitars,
and bombo .
The music, usually in the major mode, has a unitary formal scheme with a re-
peated section that forms a period of 52 bars called pie (couples generally dance
three pies ). The subjects of the lyrics are varied. Themes are often historical, roman-
tic, related to local customs or to the cities. The latter is known as cueca urbana,
brava, or chora. The lyrics are divided into three parts called cuarteta, segudilla, and remate. The cuarteta is a four-line stanza of eight syllables in ballad-stanza
rhyme (abcb pattern). The segudilla is a seven-line stanza of five and seven syl-
lables, with the fourth line repeated and lengthened with the syllable sí or ay sí.
The remate (also known as pareado or cerrojo ) closes the form with two rhyming verses of seven and five syllables.
Sources suggest that cueca was first performed in Chile in the 1820s. Research-
ers have proposed four different origins: Creole, Arab-Andalusian, indigenous, and
African but the first two are most commonly accepted. The Creole theory suggests
that cueca derived from the Peruvian zamacueca via piano scores, which were per-
formed in Chilean aristocratic ballrooms. Later on, zamacueca would have reached
the countryside and been adapted by the masses. Toward the second half of the
19th century, this dance would have evolved in such a way as to become a dance
Encyclopedia of Latin American Popular Music Page 24